Intersectoral Collaboration and Conservation Technology Pipelines to Combat Biodiversity Loss in Protected and Conserved Areas of Vietnam
Summary
By installing an NGO-based anti-poaching team, and using various anti-poaching technologies in Pu Mat National Park, we were able to effectively maintain spatially explicit records of poaching activities, profiles of offenders, strategically implement automated poaching alert systems, and significantly decreased the number of poachers, traps, and camps within the core zone of the protected area while also substantially mitigating poaching activities throughout the entirety of the park. In doing so, we managed to identify and apply pressure on high-risk poaching areas, create avoidance of poaching in locations where high-priority (Endangered, and Critically Endangered) species were present, maintain a working database of offences and offenders within the protected area to understand more about the social aspects of poaching, and built capacity for all operating rangers in the protected area to use the same methods and technologies themselves.
Clasificaciones
Region
Scale of implementation
Ecosystem
Theme
Species Conservation and One Health Interventions
One Health
Challenges
Sustainable development goals
Aichi targets
Business engagement approach
Challenges
- Poaching of wild flora and fauna in protected areas is widespread throughout Vietnam
- Law enforcement in protected areas of Vietnam is generally ineffective due to low pay and poor welfare of rangers and lack of necessary tools/resources.
- Forest rangers are primarily trained to focus on preventing deforestation through illegal logging; however, biodiversity loss has not been a primary area of focus until recent years because biodiversity loss is more difficult to measure than forest loss and is much more resource intensive.
- National Park managers and rangers in Vietnam typically do not use management effectiveness tools, standardized data collection methods, or databases of illegal activity within protected areas
- Due to the rarity of endangered species and the disturbance caused by active patrols and surveys, it is difficult to designate high-priority locations to apply patrolling pressure to protect threatened species due to low detection rates.
Beneficiaries
- Rangers in Pu Mat Nation Park
- Managers in Pu Mat National Park
- Wildlife in Pu Mat National Park
Building blocks
¿ Cómo interactúan los building blocks en la solución?
Each of the above elements interact with each other via human resources, intelligence, and strategic application to ensure overall site protection efficiency and success. Our anti-poaching team interacts with government rangers to build capacity by transferring knowledge over time and habituate them to using the SMART mobile data collection tool in the field. SMART is used to analyze and plan following patrols based on past patrol data collected from each unit. PoacherCams are set based on entry locations discovered by patrols and high-traffic poaching data, and are installed at entry points as an early warning system for rapid-response mobile ranger units. Camera traps provide insights into high-priority patrol locations to reduce hunting activities where rare and threatened species occur.
Impacts
- Illegal firearms confiscated per km travelled in 2018-2019 went from 0.016 to 0.003 in 2019-2020 (79.3% Reduction) to 0.001 from 2020 to the end of 2021 (67.6% Reduction)
- Traps removed per km travelled in 2018-2019 went from 1.91 to 0.345 in 2019-2020 (81.9% Reduction) to 0.104 from 2020 to the end of 2021 (69.9% Reduction)
- Illegal encampments removed per km travelled in 2018-2019 went from 0.182 to 0.031 in 2019-2020 (82.9% Reduction) to 0.008 from 2020 to the end of 2021 (74% Reduction)
- Total number of offenders in the protected area per km travelled went from 0.088 in 2018-2019 to 0.0326 in 2020 (62.9% Reduction) to 0.0075 by the end of 2021 (77% Reduction)
- For the entire year of 2021 there were zero illegal logging cases recorded in Pu Mat National Park
- Our successful anti-poaching model is entirely scalable and is now being expanded to four other national parks in Vietnam, with hopes to expand further in the near future.
Story
Lam was born and grew up in Binh Dinh, where she had been learning martial arts since she was a little girl prior to enrolling in university. According to Lam: “Martial art is not just to protect me but my passion also". Aside from her passion for martial arts, she also has a strong love for the forest. After graduating with a major in forestry, more than anyone, she understood her responsibility to nature, forest, and wildlife, so she chose to follow the conservation pathway. Perhaps the temperament of a martial art practitioner mixed with the empathy for nature ended up triggering the decision to become an anti-poacher at SVW.
In July, 2021, Lam took the opportunity with 9 other colleagues to join the 7-day patrol to Pu Mat National Park. She experienced places and situations she had never ever been in her life. What she shared about that trip that she “… learned survival skills, and [had] a chance to hear and see many new wonderful things". The trip revealed to her all of the upcoming challenges to practice and train herself with determination and tenacity.
While this is how we prefer to describe conservation work, the truth is that all the patrols are not easy. This is an intense and hard-working duty, regardless of who you are, you might feel worn out and discouraged sometimes. “Being a girl is more inconvenient, especially when going for bathing or when you are in “strawberry season", you might not withstand it without patience and a tenacious mind”. And yes, beyond our expectation, this special girl nailed it in her first patrol. She conquered the mountain, passed through the cascade, went through the forest, witnessed the clouds fly under her shoes, walked under the heavy forest rain, and set foot in the slopped trail with a resilient will.
“The patrols brought me valuable experience; you have to go there to see how hard habitat protection efforts are” said Lam. She hopes that people will change their minds and know how to love nature, so all the forests will be a truly safe home for wildlife animals.
Today, Lam has been assigned to a new anti-poaching team that extends from the successful Pu Mat model to scale its implementation in Cat Tien and coordinates the southern region of the national park. She is well versed in patrolling techniques, SMART, data management, reporting, SMART Connect, PoacherCams, and is looking toward new solutions to anti-poaching efforts in the future.
Pictures
Contribuido por
Iniciar sesión o registro para publicar comentarios.